Crash Bandicoot Sky High
by ElectricSnowman
Summary: What if the characters in the movie Sky High were replaced with Crash Bandicoot characters? This story tells all of that. What's pretty funny is that some Crash Bandicoot heroes are villains, and some villains are heroes.
1. Starting off

**Since I am such a Crash Bandicoot freak, whenever I watch a movie I really enjoy, I always try to imagine the Crash Bandicoot characters being in that movie. I happened to see the movie Sky High recently, and had the idea of replacing the characters in the movie with Crash characters.**

**I do not own the Crash Bandicoot characters, or anything related to the movie Sky High, of course. I also do not own the character Tani Tiger; for she was created by Tara Cross. The only characters I own are Deann, Scarlett, Nia Cortex, and Crush Bandicoot.**

* * *

Tiny marked off the date on his calendar. He sighed, cause he knew that things were going to be different this year. He was going to a new school...and not just _any_ school...Sky High; a school for young superheroes. There was only one problem to the whole situation, though...Tiny had no superpowers.

"Tiny!" Tani yelled.

Tiny gasped, hearing his sister's voice, and quickly grabbed a few weights. For the longest time, he faked that he had super strength, and it worked quite well actually. Hearing her footsteps, Tiny dropped to the ground under a weight, pretending to lift it. Tani opened the door of his room, and walked in.

"200!" Tiny yelled, putting the weight down. "Oh, hi Tani!"

Tani smiled, and pat him on the back. "Just wanted to wish you luck on your first day of high school!" she said.

"Thanks...I'll need it," Tiny said.

"You'll be fine! With a superpower like yours, people will know not to mess with you!" Tani told him. She laughed, then said, "Oh, the bus will here around 10 minutes, so make sure you have your things ready."

"Alright," Tiny said.

Tani was about to walk away, when she turned back around. "By the way, there are some people at Sky High who...let's just say, don't have that good of powers, so...try not to show off, alright?" she told him.

Tiny rolled his eyes. "I'll keep it cool, don't worry," he said.

"I'll see you later tonight then," Tani said as she walked away.

Tani had the power to transform herself into a werewolf. She already attended Sky High, and had graduated the year before. She was so proud of Tiny being able to follow in her footsteps, that Tiny wouldn't dare tell her the truth about him.

Taking his backpack, he hurried downstairs, just as the doorbell rang. Tiny opened the door and saw Dingodile, with his sister Deann.

"Well," Dingodile said, shrugging. "Today's the day; give or take."

Luckily for Tiny, Dingodile and Deann were also attending Sky High. They all walked out of the house, and over to the bus stop. Deann had the power to control plants, and Dingodile had the power to control fire.

About a few minutes later, the bus arrived. The doors opened, so Tiny, Dingodile and Deann walked inside. They all took a seat, then the bus drove off casually.

"Do you know if we have to actually..._use_ our powers during school, or anything?" Dingodile asked Tiny. He was always cautious about using his powers, because whenever he got angry, they would go out of control.

Tiny shrugged. "Not that I know of," he replied.

It took them all a while to realize exactly where the bus was going. Everyone watched as it knocked over a sign that said "Road Ends".

"Road ends?" Deann mumbled to herself.

In a matter of seconds, everyone felt the bus drop. The road ended, apparently.

The busdriver pulled a lever, and suddenly, jets shot out from the back of the bus, causing it to fly. It was like a roller-coaster, only there were no tracks. Everyone in the bus started screaming and flipping out.

The busdriver only rolled his eyes, and said, "_Freshmen._"

After about 5 to 10 minutes of this horror thrill ride, the bus finally reached Sky High, a school that was floating in the sky. As the bus landed and the doors opened, everyone flooded out in a hurry. Tiny, Dingodile and Deann got out last, glad that they didn't get trampled.

All the new students were waiting in front of the school, waiting for a guide to show them around. Pretty soon, a girl walked over to them and introduced herself.

"Hi everybody, I'm Scarlett, your guide to the school here," she said.

As soon as Tiny looked at her, he couldn't stop staring. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen!

"I know you're all going to love it here at Sky High! I know I have..." Scarlett continued talking.

Tiny didn't even listen; he just stared at her flowing brown hair, and her gorgeous green eyes. He was obviously in love.

"If you can just follow those few simple rules, I promise, you will NOT fall of the edge of the school," Scarlett finished, and everyone laughed. "Now, if you just follow me inside, I'll explain to you where you go first."

Everyone started walking away, leaving Tiny, still distracted. He finally snapped out of it, and said, "Rules? What rules?" then followed everyone into the school.

Scarlett led everyone into the gym, then said, "In a few moments, you will go to power placement, and your own heroic journey will begin!"

Tiny froze. "Power placement...?" he asked.

"Power placement is how they decide where you go," N. Gin said.

"...The hero track or the _loser _track..." Nia mumbled to herself.

"They prefer the term "hero support", but there's no fooling anybody," Komodo Joe said.

"For now, I wish you all good luck, and your adventure will begin!" Scarlett told everyone. She walked away, then Tiny turned around and stared at her some more.

"What are you doing?" Dingodile asked.

"Huh? Nothing!" Tiny quickly said.

"Alright, listen up!" a voice suddenly yelled. Everyone turned around and saw the coach, who just happened to be N. Tropy.

"My name is Coach Tropy. This is how power placement is going to work; you will step up to this stage and show everyone your power. Yes, you will do this is front of the entire class. I will then determine where you will be assigned; hero, or sidekick."

"I _real__ly_ don't like where this is going..." Dingodile whispered to Tiny.

"Think about how _I _feel!" Tiny whispered back.

"YOU," Tropy said, pointing to Crunch. "You're first; get up here!"

Crunch slowly walked up to the stage. He bent down and touched the stage, which was made of bricks. Suddenly, right when he touched it, his whole body became made of bricks.

"Hm..." Tropy said, interested. "CAR!"

A car fell out of nowhere onto Crunch, who lifted it up easily. "Hero!" Tropy said.

"Sure, he's good, but I'm better!" N. Gin, jumping up to the stage.

"Excuse me; did I say you were next?" Tropy asked him.

"No, sir, but I do believe I have a power that will amaze you!" N. Gin said.

Tropy rolled his eyes. "Show me," he said.

N. Gin stared at Tropy for a few seconds.

"What are you waiting for?" Tropy asked.

"I'm doing it!" N. Gin said.

"Doing what?" Tropy said.

"Reading your mind!" N. Gin told him.

"What am I thinking about?" Tropy asked.

"Tacos," N. Gin said.

Tropy stared at him. "Sidekick," he said.

"Fine, be that way!" N. Gin yelled, walking right through him. Tropy turned around, confused, then shrugged and ignored him.

"You," he said, pointing at Komodo Joe. "Front and center."

Joe walked up on the stage and said, "First off, I just want to say what an honor it is to—"

"Show me your power," Tropy interrupted.

"Right away, sir!" Joe said. He put one hand on himself, and the other on Tropy. A few seconds later, he let go of Tropy.

"So...what's your power?" Tropy asked.

"I switched our superpowers around," Joe told him. "You see, I thought this power would be very useful when being a hero, because—"

"Sidekick!" Tropy interrupted, pushing him off the stage.

Next was Nina Cortex. She motioned for Tropy to drop the car again, so he yelled, "CAR!" The car fell, but then Nina froze it in mid-air. "Hero!" Tropy said.

He forced Coco Bandicoot up next. Coco made a swirl motion with her finger, and pretty soon, a tornado formed, destroying everything in its path.

"Hero!" Tropy told her, too. Next, he pointed at Ripper Roo.

Ripper Roo smiled sneakily, then turned invisible and hopped up onto the stage.

"Where'd he go?" Tropy asked, looking around. A sudden burst of laughter behind him scared the crap out of him, and he instantly turned around. He saw Ripper Roo reappear, laughing his head off.

"Oh, you think that's funny, don't you?" Tropy asked him. "SIDEKICK!"

Ripper Roo stopped laughing, then sadly hopped off the stage, turning invisible again.

Next was Crash Bandicoot—Coco's brother. In a flash, he appeared on the stage with super speed, then ran around the whole gym in circles as fast as he could.

"Hero!" Tropy yelled. "Pink girl; you're up!" he said, pointing at Nia Cortex—Nina's sister.

Nia walked onto the stage. "I'm a shapeshifter," she said.

"Show me," Tropy said.

Nia got down on the ground, and shapeshifted into a guinea pig.

Tropy stared at her. "That's it? A guinea pig?" he asked.

"Yup," Nia said.

"Not even a _swarm_ of guinea pigs?" Tropy asked.

"Nope," Nia said.

"Sidekick!" Tropy yelled. "Blue girl, get up here!" he said, pointing at Deann.

She walked up onto the stage, and stuck out her arms. Instantly, all the windows broke, and all sorts of plants and vines entered the gym.

"Hero!" Tropy said. He pointed at Dingodile next.

Dingodile froze, then gave a quick glance at Deann, who quickly shook her head in return. Instantly, he refused.

"Um...I believe in only using my powers when the situation demands it," he said.

"Well, you're in luck. This is the situation, and I'm demanding it," Tropy told him.

"You don't understand; my powers are still developing, and I'd rather not show them when I do not have full control over—" Dingodile began.

"Wait a minute; are you refusing to show your powers!?" Tropy asked.

"It's more complicated than that. You see, I—" Dingodile began.

"SIDEKICK!" Tropy interrupted.

"Alright folks, we'll continue this after lunchtime!" he told everyone, not that there was much to continue, really.


	2. Finishing Off Power Placement

All the sidekicks were a their own lunch table, of course. They actually started to get along pretty well.

"I tell you, Tropy is going to regret making me a sidekick!" N. Gin complained. "One day, he'll meet a woman, and I won't be there to read her mind and tell him what she thinks of him!"

Tiny was eating his lunch, until he noticed someone glaring at him a couple tables back. His eyes widened, then he turned to everyone else and said, "Okay, am I crazy, or is that guy staring at me?"

Everyone turned around, and saw who it was. "Dude...that's Crush Bandicoot," Komodo Joe said.

"Really? I've heard about him; didn't he almost get expelled?" Dingodile said.

Ripper Roo laughed, which most likely meant "yes."

"What does this have to do with me?" Tiny asked.

"Your sister was the one who almost got him expelled," Nia told him.

"Yeah, she ticked him off, and he went psycho," Joe said.

"Well, his sister _does_ have a way of doing that..." Dingodile said, thinking.

"Well this is just great; first day of school, and I already have an arch-enemy!" Tiny said. He sat there for a moment, then said, "Is he still looking at me?"

"No," Dingodile said, not even looking.

Tiny slowly turned around, and saw Crush glaring at him. "You said he wasn't looking!" Tiny whispered, quickly facing the table again.

After lunch, Tiny and his new friends were walking down the hallway, when he suddenly bumped into somebody.

"Oh! Sorry..." Tiny said, helping the person up. His eyes instantly widened when he saw it was Scarlett.

"That's fine...Tiny, is it?" Scarlett said.

Tiny just stared at her. "Oh! Mind reader, aren't you?" he asked.

"Nope; nametag," Scarlett said, pointing to his nametag.

"Oh, heh heh..." Tiny said nervously.

"So, how's power placement going?" Scarlett asked.

"Uh...it's g-great!" Tiny stuttered.

"Not surprisingly," Scarlett said. "Hey, I need a freshmen rep for homecoming committee, so if you'd be interested, we could talk about it over lunch sometime!"

Tiny just stared at her like a complete idiot. "I eat lunch!" he said stupidly.

Scarlett laughed. "Well, I guess I"ll see you guys around!" she said, then she walked away.

Tiny kept staring at her as everyone started walking again, so he bumped into someone else. "Sorry," he said. He looked up, then stopped dead on his tracks when he saw Crush Bandicoot.

Crush gave him a death glare, which made him flee in terror.

* * *

Eventually, everyone was back in the gym, where power placement was finishing up.

"You're next; get up here!" Tropy said, pointing at Pinstripe. He walked up to the stage, then lifted his arms into the air. Instantly, a whole bunch of spikes shot up from the ground.

"Hero!" Tropy said.

Tiny was relieved, thinking the whole thing was over, but he completely forgot that there was one more person left.

"You; stage, now," Tropy said, pointing at him.

Tiny's eyes widened. "Shoot..." he whispered. He gulped, then slowly walked up to the stage.

"Tiny Tiger, is it?" Tropy said, looking at his clipboard. "Oh, I see...you're the brother of Tani Tiger! She was rather remarkable..."

"Yes, yes she was," Tiny said, sneaking off the stage.

"Not so fast," Tropy stopped him. "Show me your powers."

Tiny rocked back and forth on his feet nervously, then slowly walked over to him and whispered something in his ear.

Tropy had an annoyed look on his face. "Whaddaya mean you don't know what your power is!?" he yelled.

Tiny just stared at the ground.

"I see what you're doing...you're just messing with me, aren't you? CAR!" Tropy yelled. The car fell from the ceiling, but thanks to Tiny's quick reflexes, he fell to the ground before it could crush him.

"ARE YOU _INSANE!?_" he screamed. He got out from under the car and said, "I don't have super strength!"

Tropy rolled his eyes. "Well why didn't you _say_ so? You must be a flier," he said. He pushed a button, and the platform Tiny was standing on flew up in the air.

"AAAHHHH!" Tiny screamed as he fell to the ground.

"Alright, so you're not a flier. What's your power!?" Tropy asked him.

"I don't have one..." Tiny said, ashamed.

"I don't have time for this. _SIDEKICK!_" Tropy yelled at him.

* * *

Tiny spent most of his time in the nurse's office that day from his earlier injuries. "You...haven't called my sister, have you?" he nervously asked the nurse.

"Like _I_ want to be the one to tell your sister you have no powers?" the nurse said. She started laughing, and Tiny could tell that she knew his sister pretty well.

"So...let's see what the problem is," she said. She blinked her eyes a couple times, then looked at Tiny with X-Ray vision. "Well, nothing's broken..." she said.

"Except for me not having any powers," Tiny told her.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that, because it's very rare one doesn't have superpowers, and yet his siblings do." the nurse said.

That made Tiny feel a little better about the situation.


	3. The Truth Comes Out

That night, after school, Tiny had invited his new friends over to his house, where they could work on homework. It wasn't too long before Tani arrived back home.

When Tiny heard the door open, he was nervous, because he didn't want her to know what had happened today. "Tani! Why...um..home so early?" he asked nervously.

"I always get home around this time, Tiny," Tani said, like it was obvious. She looked around, and saw everyone else that was with him. "Well, I see you and Dingodile have made some new friends already!" she said.

N. Gin jumped up, and walked over to her, "It's an honor to meet you, ma'am!" he said, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Tani; Tiny's older sister. What's you name, and what's your power?" Tani asked.

"I'm N. Gin, and I can read minds and walk through stuff!" N. Gin said.

"...Okay," Tani said.

Joe shook her hand, too. "I'm Joe, and I can switch others' superpowers around," he said.

"I see..." Tani said.

Nia shook her hand. "Nia, and I shapeshift," she said.

"Shapeshift! Interesting," Tani said.

"...Into a guinea pig," Nia finished.

Tani paused for a moment. "That's...great," she said.

Ripper Roo hopped up to her, and shook her hand, while laughing.

Tani stared at him, then looked at Tiny.

"That's Ripper Roo, and he can turn invisible," Tiny told her.

"Oh, okay. Well, it was a pleasure to meet you all," Tani said, walking out of the room.

"I need to get something; I'll be right back," Tiny told everyone, and he followed Tani into the kitchen.

"Those are some very interesting friends you have there, Tiny," Tani said. "That guy though, Joe, can he really switch others' powers around?"

"Sometimes. He doesn't want to get in trouble with the principal, though, so he avoids doing that," Tiny told her. "He's a sidekick."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense then," Tani said.

"Well, actually...they're _ALL_...sidekicks..." Tiny quietly said.

Tani smiled at him. "I'm proud of you, Tiny! I like how you think of the sidekicks as heroes, too. You're treating everyone equal, and I like that," she said.

Tiny smiled, nervously. He paused for a moment, then said, "There's nothing wrong with being a sidekick, right?"

"Oh no, of course not!" Tani said.

"So...you'd be fine then, if _I_ was a sidekick..." Tiny said.

"Oh, sure, I guess," Tani said, not really paying attention, and cleaning the dishes.

"Well, that's good then...because I am," Tiny confessed.

"Am what?" Tani asked.

"...A sidekick," Tiny said. "

Who?" Tani asked, finally turning around.

"_Me_, Tani!" Tiny told her. "I'm a sidekick, okay? I washed out of power placement." He quickly shut his eyes, frightened at what her reaction might be.

Tani was silent for a moment, then slowly turned to him. _"WASHED OUT!?" _she screamed, her eyes turning yellow. She turned around, then hit the table as hard as she could.

Everyone that was in the living room slowly peeked into the kitchen to see what was going on.

Tani walked over to the phone, and angrily started dialing a number. "Tani, what are you doing!?" Tiny asked, following her.

"Calling Tropy! Apparently he doesn't know a hero when he SEES one!" Tani yelled.

"No, it's not Tropy, Tani! It's me, okay? I don't have any powers!" Tiny told her.

Tani froze, then slowly put the phone on the table. "But..." she said, facing him. "I don't understand...you made it seem like—"

"What? That I had super strength? I don't," Tiny said, ashamed. Tani didn't answer, and just stared at the ground.

"But I'm proud to be sidekick. Actually, I'm proud to be hero support!" Tiny said.

He walked out of the kitchen, and back into the living room, where everyone stared at him. "What?" he said.

Everyone instantly stopped looking at him, and back at their papers, like nothing happened.

* * *

The next day, at lunchtime, Tiny was carrying a tray to the table he normally sat at with his friends.

Crash and Coco Bandicoot were a few tables away from him, laughing to themselves.

"Hey, watch this," Coco told Crash. She turned to Tiny, and motioned her hand towards him, causing a gust of wind to blow right at him.

"AAHHH!" Tiny screamed as he fell, his tray of food flying into the air and landing right onto another table...the table where Crush Bandicoot happened to sit.

Crush slowly got up, and glared at Tiny, who got up off the ground.

"S-sorry..." Tiny said quietly.

"You _will_ be," Crush growled at him.

Tiny backed away. "Look, I didn't mean to start anything..." he said.

"Do you think you can do whatever you want just because your sister was the best student here!?" Crush told him.

"Look, I'm sorry my sister almost got you expelled, but—" Tiny began.

"NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THAT INCIDENT!" Crush yelled at him. He punched a table, and it came to life, turning into some kind of monster. It roared and started running at Tiny, who screamed and ran away.

"Hey, just leave him alone!" Joe yelled at Crush.

"You stay out of this, sidekick!" Crush yelled, and soon, Joe's chair came to life, and pinned him down.

"Cortex, _do_ something!" Nia yelled at Dr. Neo Cortex, their teacher.

Cortex got out of his chair. "You're right; I _should_ do something!" Instantly, he ran out of the cafeteria and down the hallway, screaming, _"MADAM AMBERLY! MADAM AMBERLY!"_

The table that came to life grabbed Tiny, who was still screaming and trying to escape.

"Now, it's about time we settle this!" Crush growled, holding up his robotic fist, about to punch him.

Suddenly, he collapsed to the ground. He started rolling around yelling, "GET OFF OF ME!"

Tiny just stared at him, confused, until Crush threw something at a table, which knocked off everything on it. Tiny realized that it was Ripper Roo, trying to help out.

Crush angrily got up, and growled, "That's IT!" He turned another table alive, and sent it straight at Tiny, punching him in the face. Tiny flew and hit the wall, then fell to the ground.

"We have to do something!" N. Gin said.

"Like what? We're sidekicks, N. Gin! What good can we do?" Nia asked.

Dingodile finally got up, and started walking over to Crush.

"What are you doing!?" Joe yelled, but he ignored him.

"HEY!" Dingodile yelled at Crush. Crush turned around at looked at him. "It's not his fault anything happened to you, so just leave him alone!" Dingodile said.

"Well, aren't you a little hothead?" Crush said, walking over to him. He grabbed him by the neck.

"Let him go!" Tiny yelled, as he got up.

"With pleasure!" Crush said, and he threw Dingodile at the wall. Tiny gasped, and Crush started laughing.

Dingodile slowly looked up at him and growled, steam rising from him.

Tiny knew he was about to explode. Not wanting him to get out of control—without thinking—he lifted up the table that Crush had brought to life, and whacked Crush with it as hard as he could.

Crush fell to the ground, surprised. Everyone in the lunch room was surprised, too.

Tiny was astonished. "I...I'm STRONG!" he yelled, dropping the table. He turned around, and saw Crash and Coco. "So...who tripped me?" he asked.

Crash left in an instant, and Coco cowardly ran away.

"TINY!" a voice growled. Tiny turned around, and saw Crush get up off the ground.

**Meanwhile, in the teacher's lounge...**

"So, what if I said that it wasn't just her twin...but her _evil_ twin?" Tropy asked N. Brio.

Brio thought about that. "_This_ Friday, you said?" he asked.

**_CRASH! _**Out of nowhere, the wall next to them broke into pieces, and Crush was seen lying on the ground right in front of them. He got up, and walked out of the room.

"You think I can't take a hit!?" he yelled at Tiny.

Tiny turned around and saw him. "Crap," he said.

Crush growled, and soon, everything around him was brought to life; tables, chairs, even lunch trays. He sent them all straight to Tiny, who started panicking. Tiny picked up a table, and ran over to Crush, destroying everything brought to life in his path. When he reached Crush, he threw the table behind him and punched him straight in the face.

Crush hit the wall, finally knocked out.

Tiny brushed his hands together, satisfied, then turned around. His smile vanished, when he saw Madam Amberly standing right in front of him.

"Hi..." Tiny said quietly. He knew he as in trouble, though.

After Tiny and Crush were sent away, everyone quickly went back to whatever they were doing. Dingodile got up weakly, kind of angry that no one even checked to see if he was alright; even Tiny.

* * *

Madam Amberly led Tiny and Crush over to the detention room. They walked inside, and Tiny said, "I didn't _do_ anything; he started it!"

"Your sister started it, now I'm gonna FINISH it!" Crush yelled. He pointed his hand towards a nearby desk, but nothing happened.

"Don't even bother!" Madam Amberly told him. "The detention room neutralizes all superpowers!"

Crush and Tiny sat at some desks, then Madam Amberly left the room.

Things were silent for a moment, until Tiny said, "Look, whatever happened between you and my sister doesn't have anything to do with us; so, whaddaya say?" He held his hand out to shake Crush's hand, but Crush just sat there.

"I say that if you ever mess with me again, I'll kill you," Crush replied.

Tiny's eyes widened, and he slowly took his hand back.

* * *

That night, Tiny ran as fast as he could over to his house. He just couldn't wait to see Tani's reaction to his news today. He was so excited, as soon as he opened the door, it broke right off. Tiny gasped, then slowly leaned the door on the wall. He turned around, and saw Tani.

"Anything interesting happen today?" she asked, seriously.

"Well, as you may have noticed, I got my powers today!" Tiny said excitedly.

Tani just looked at him blankly, which surprised him. "Yes, I know. The principal called," she said.

"Look, it's not as bad as it sounds; it's actually a very funny story..." Tiny said.

"You nearly destroyed the cafeteria!" Tani told him.

"Yeah, but Tani...I got my powers!" he said, confused that she wasn't happy.

"...And do you know how to use them _wisely?_" she asked. Tiny slowly looked at the ground.

Tani sighed, then turned around. "Tiny..." she began.

_Oh dear...she's gonna yell at me..._ Tiny thought to himself.

Tani turned to him, her arms open. "Come here!" she said happily.

Tiny's eyes widened. "You...you're not _mad?_" he asked.

"My little brother finally got his powers! How could I be mad!?" Tani said, hugging him.

Tiny was confused. "Then why were you acting like—?"

"That was just an acting gig! I had you there for a moment, didn't I?" Tani said.

"Phew!" Tiny said, relieved.


	4. Save the Citizen

Then next day, Tiny was really popular, apparently.

"Dude, you made sidekick history!" N. Gin told him.

"I don't know about THAT, but..." Tiny said.

"No, seriously! From now on, people will mess with us at their own risk!" Joe said.

"You're proving that we're not just heroes, or sidekicks...just people!" Nia said.

"_Super _people!" Joe corrected her.

Ripper Roo laughed in agreement.

Tiny turned around, and noticed that Dingodile was silent. "Hey, is everything okay?" he asked him.

Dingodile looked up. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. He went back to being silent, till _finally,_ Tiny noticed the bruise he had on his neck.

Tiny gasped. "Oh my gosh...yesterday...are you okay!?" he asked.

"I'm fine; I went to the nurse, had everything straightened out. It's nothing, really," Dingodile told him.

"This is all my fault..." Tiny said.

"TINY," Dingodile said angrily. Tiny looked at him. "I'm FINE, okay? It's not your fault," Dingodile said.

"I'm sorry," Tiny said.

The bell rang, and Cortex came into the room. "Good morning, class," he said. "Before we begin today's lesson, though, it seems you won't be joining us today, Tiny."

"What? Why?" Tiny asked.

"It seems you've been put into the hero class now," Cortex told him.

Tiny was surprised, and looked at everyone. "What about them?" he asked.

"We'll still see you on the bus," N. Gin said.

"Yeah, and at lunch, too," Nia said.

"Well, you best not be late," Cortex told Tiny. Tiny hesitated, but walked out the door.

He walked down the hallway, then found the hero classroom. He knocked on the door, and Brio opened it.

"Ah, Tiny! They told me you were coming," he said.

Tiny walked inside and Brio said, "Unfortunately, all the lab partners have been taken, so I suppose I could pair you up with my assistant."

Tiny looked at the back row, where Scarlett—the girl he had drooled over on the first day of school—was sitting. He froze, and just stared at her.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Brio asked.

Tiny snapped out of it, and finally earned enough courage to walk over to her.

* * *

"So...how's this?" Tiny asked, holding up part of a ray gun he assembled.

"Great; if you were building a heat ray. You're supposed to be building a freeze ray," Scarlett told him.

Tiny sighed, putting the piece of the gun down. "Well, I have no idea what I'm doing, heh heh..." he said.

"D!" they suddenly heard Brio yell at a group next to them. "I would give you an F, but that would mean I'd have to see you in summer school!"

Scarlett turned to the ray gun Tiny made, and made all the parts disassemble and put back together in the correct way.

Brio walked over to them. "And what do we have here?" he asked.

"Uh, I wouldn't know...I didn't make it..." Tiny said.

"You're far too honest, Tiny..." Brio said, taking the ray gun from him. He blasted it at Pinstripe, and he froze instantly. Brio turned back to Tiny. "...But perhaps not honest enough. Miss Scarlett, in the future, please allow the students to succeed or _fail_ on their own," he said to them. He walked away.

"How did you do that?" Tiny asked Scarlett.

"I control electricity, so that also allows me to control technology," she said.

"Wow...and all I can do is punch stuff," Tiny said. They both laughed.

"You know, I can totally help you out with all of this science stuff," Scarlett said.

"You can?" Tiny asked.

"Sure, I can like your...private tutor," Scarlett told him.

"Okay!" he said.

* * *

Later that day, Tiny was walking over to his locker, when he noticed Dingodile. Feeling a little stupid about before, Tiny walked over to him.

"Listen, Dingodile...about yesterday..." he began.

"What about it?" Dingodile asked in his most innocent voice.

"No, you _know_ what happened...I didn't even thank you for helping me out or anything—" Tiny began.

"Please, it's not a big deal," Dingodile said.

"No, it is," Tiny said. "I feel bad, so let me make it up to you. Maybe tonight we can do something, like go see a movie or something..."

Dingodile thought about that for a moment. "Around 8?" he asked.

"Sure," Tiny said.

"TINY!" a voice suddenly screamed. Tiny turned around and saw N. Gin running down the hallway and around a corner. He followed him, then saw Crash with Pinstripe, who was shoving N. Gin inside a locker.

"Hey, come on, guys!" Tiny told them. Pinstripe let go of N. Gin.

"Thanks, Tiny," N. Gin said.

Crash and Pinstripe leaned against the lockers casually. Tiny heard muffled laughing coming from one of the lockers, so he said, "Ripper Roo too."

Pinstripe rolled his eyes, and opened the locker. Ripper Roo came out, and hopped away.

"You think you're so big and bad, don't you Tiny!?" Pinstripe yelled.

"No, I don't..." Tiny said.

"Please; Tiny can _totally_ take you!" N. Gin said.

Joe was walking by, and he happened to hear the conversation. "You saw what happened to Crush! You wanna piece of that!?" he yelled at Pinstripe.

"You better watch your mouth, Tiny!" Pinstripe yelled.

"I didn't SAY anything!" Tiny yelled back.

"Why don't we settle this in gym class?" Pinstripe said.

"Right on! If Tiny beats you in "save the citizen", you lay off the sidekicks for the rest of the year!" N. Gin told him.

"Yeah, and if YOU win, you can dunk N. Gin's head in the toilet every day until graduation!" Joe said.

"Yeah! Wait, _what?_" N. Gin said, shocked.

"You got a deal!" Pinstripe told them, then he walked away. Crash growled at them, then walked away, too. Everyone shuddered. Even though he was mute, he was still pretty intimidating.

"GUYS! Are you CRAZY!?" Tiny yelled at Joe and N. Gin. "Those guys are the CHAMPIONS of "save the citizen"!"

"Not to mention you don't know how to use your powers very well," Dingodile said. Tiny gave him a look. "Sorry, not helping..." Dingodile said.

"Tiny, you have no choice; you can't let them dunk N. Gin's head in the toilet. Not _again_. The dunking must end," Joe said.

Tiny sighed angrily, then walked away.

"DUNK N. GIN'S HEAD IN THE TOILET...?" N. Gin growled, turning to Joe.

"Heh heh...COMING TINY!" Joe screamed, following Tiny.

* * *

"Coco, Deann! Your citizen has just been destroyed because you failed to defeat your villains!" Tropy yelled. "Get out of here!"

Coco and Deann left the gym, grumbling to themselves.

"Alright; next round! Crash and Pinstripe, you want to be heroes or villains?" Tropy asked.

"Villains," Pinstripe said, like it was obvious.

"Ooh, there's a shocker," Tropy said sarcastically. "Who do you want to beat next?"

"Well...we'll take Tiny Tiger here..." Pinstripe said, pointing at Tiny. Crash elbowed him and pointed at another person.

"...And we'll take Crush Bandicoot!" Pinstripe finished.

Tiny nervously got out of his seat.

"You can do this, Tiny!" Nia assured him. After he left, she turned to everyone else and said, "I don't think he can do this..."

Tiny and Crush walked to the center of the gym. "Alright, Crush and Tiny, you're the heroes," Tropy told them.

Tiny looked up at the bleachers and saw Scarlett waving at him. He waved back happily.

"Hey! Get your head in the game!" Crush yelled, snapping him out of it.

"You have 3 minutes to defeat your villains and save the citizen!" Tropy told them. "Ready...get set..._BATTLE!"_

The first thing Crash did was use his super speed to bounce off the walls of the gym, knocking Tiny and Crush over. Crush got up and shot a nearby piece of wood, bringing it to life. He sent it after Crash, but then Pinstripe shot it with spikes, breaking it into pieces.

Thinking that the villains were distracted with Crush, Tiny tried sneaking over to the citizen, who was hung on a rope right above a pit of spikes. Crash ran in front of him, causing him to fly back, though.

Pinstripe tried shooting spikes at Crush, but Crush brought them to life and fired them right back at him. Pinstripe ducked at the last second, causing the spikes to hit Tropy.

"HEY, WATCH IT!" he screamed. Everyone in the crowd laughed.

After about the 4th time of Crash hitting Tiny when he was trying to save the citizen, Tiny was starting to get very annoyed. He looked around, and also noticed that Crush was having a hard time fighting Pinstripe. Tiny growled, then finally jumped into the air and punched the ground—HARD. It caused the whole ground to shake, making Pinstripe trip and fall, but it didn't seem to affect Crash.

Tiny ripped off a piece of metal surrounding the gym, and grabbed Pinstripe. He held him next to a pole, then wrapped the piece of metal around him, tying him to it. "Not so tough now, are you!?" he told him.

"HEY!" Crush yelled, trying to get his attention. "SAVE THE CITIZEN!" Tiny looked at the clock, which only had 40 seconds remaining. He ran towards the citizen as fast as he could.

Crush tried to help out by distracting Crash, but that didn't work out so well. Crash started running in circles around him, faster and faster. Crush tried to escape, but then he realized he was slowly losing his breath. He fell to the ground, looking like he was about to pass out.

Tiny was still trying to get the citizen, until he noticed Crush. He looked at the clock again, which had 20 seconds left. He looked at the citizen, then back at Crush. Even though he and Crush weren't exactly the best of friends, he knew it was best to help him out, so he ran over to him.

He grabbed Crash, aimed him at Pinstripe, then let go, causing Crash to run directly at Pinstripe, knocking them both out. Tiny helped Crush up, then lifted him and aimed him towards the citizen.

"5...4...3...2..." the crowd chanted. Tiny threw Crush straight at the citizen, which he grabbed right before time ran out.

Tropy blew his whistle. "HE'S ALIVE!" he screamed.

The whole crowd screamed and applauded with joy. "You both win!" Tropy said.

Tiny walked over to Crush, offering to help him up, but Crush got up on his own and ignored him, walking away. Tiny was confused, but the crowd didn't seem to notice, because next thing he knew, he was surrounded by the whole school, practically.


	5. The Third Wheel

"I can't believe you ACTUALLY won "save the citizen"! No freshman has ever done that before!" Tani said proudly. She gave Tiny a hug, and they both walked into the kitchen.

Tiny stopped dead on his tracks when he saw Scarlett standing right there. "SCARLETT..." he said, surprised.

"Hi Tiny! Congratulations on your win today!" Scarlett told him.

"I hear Scarlett is willing to help you out on your science homework?" Tani asked Tiny.

"Yeah..." he said.

"I know I said we would work on starting things out tomorrow, but something came up, so is there any chance we could do it tonight?" Scarlett asked.

"Sure! Yeah," Tiny told her.

"You can stay for dinner tonight," Tani said.

"Oh, no...I can't intrude..." Scarlett said.

"Sure you can," Tiny said. "It's fine with us."

"Well, okay! Thanks!" Scarlett said.

* * *

There Dingodile sat; at a bench in front of the theater in the mall. He looked at his watch for about the 20th time, then angrily got up. "If he wanted to make me feel better at ALL, he would've shown up..." he muttered to himself.

He walked away, heading to the exit of the mall. When he passed a nearby concession stand, he heard a voice say, "Hey."

Dingodile turned around and saw Crush, behind the counter there. "Hey..." he said back, a little confused.

"You're Tiny's best friend, right?" Crush asked him.

"Yeah..." Dingodile said, rolling his eyes. "I was _supposed_ to meet him at the theater over there at 8, but apparently he never showed up."

Crush looked behind himself, then walked out from behind the counter. "I think I can spare a minute," he said.

He and Dingodile both sat at a table. "I understand if you think it's pretty weird that I'm talking to you...but I know exactly how you feel," Crush told him.

"How do I feel?" Dingodile asked, in that fake innocent tone again.

Crush rolled his eyes. "Look, Tiny took all the credit for that whole battle against me, right? And even though _you_ tried to help out, nobody even checked to see if you were okay, they were just cheering for Tiny! Even in "save the citizen" today, everyone cheered for _him_, after _we_ won! _I_ practically saved the citizen, not him!" he explained.

Dingodile stared at him. "Oh, and I _am_ sorry...for hurting you..." Crush said, wondering if that was why Dingodile didn't want to talk.

"No, no...I don't care about that. I appreciate you actually _noticing_ how I felt about this," Dingodile told him. "Just, lately, I've been feeling invisible."

Crush looked around for a moment, then turned back to Dingodile. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, alright? Have you noticed that Tiny's been acting a little..._loopy?_" he asked.

"Loopy? You mean distracted?" Dingodile said.

"Exactly. Well, ever since he's been put into the hero class, he's been doing nothing but hanging out with this chick named Scarlett," Crush told him.

"So...?" Dingodile asked.

"I have no doubt that he's hanging with her right now," Crush said. "Just keep this is mind; cause it's not the first time he'll do this, probably." He got from the table and said, "I gotta go; I'll see you around."

"Thanks," Dingodile said, getting up. He left the mall, pretty angry and upset.

* * *

"You really didn't have to walk me home, Tiny," Scarlett said as she and Tiny both walked down the sidewalk.

"I did if I wanted to spend some time alone with you," Tiny told her. "I don't usually hang out with my sister all the time."

"Your sister is very nice, Tiny. I'm glad she decided to come to homecoming on Friday," Scarlett said. "If only _I_ knew who to go with..."

"You mean...you don't have a date for homecoming?" Tiny asked, surprised.

"Well, I've gotten a few offers...but I turned them down. I'm just...waiting for the right guy," Scarlett said.

"Oh," Tiny said, staring at the ground.

Scarlett paused for a moment, then said, "_YOU_, Tiny!"

Tiny looked up. "M-_ME!?_" he asked, shocked.

Scarlett opened the door of her house. "Yup!" she said, smiling. "Goodbye, Tiny."

"Goodbye..." Tiny said, still surprised. Scarlett walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, then went inside, and shut the door.

Tiny froze right where he stood, and slowly touched his cheek. "_WOOHOO!_" he screamed as he leaped into the air and swung around a lamppost. It fell to the ground shortly afterwards. "Oh crap," Tiny said, getting up. He looked around to see if anyone was around, then ran off as fast as he could.

* * *

The next morning, Tiny met Dingodile at the bus stop.

"Dingodile! You're not gonna believe what just happened to me!" Tiny said excitedly. "It's about homecoming!"

"Really..." Dingodile said, somehow knowing what he was going to say.

"I'm going with Scarlett!" Tiny said excitedly. "Can you just imagine it? Me...a freshman...going out with the most amazing girl in the whole school!"

Dingodile wasn't happy. "That's...great!" he said, forcing himself to smile.

"I know!" Tiny said happily.

Soon, the bus arrived, and they both hopped in. "So, who are you going with?" Tiny asked Dingodile.

"Me? Pfft, no one. I have other plans," Dingodile said.

"Like what?" Tiny asked.

Dingodile froze. "Um...I'm...going to a concert!" he said, giving a random reason not to come.

"Really?" Tiny asked.

"Yeah...one of my friends happened to have an extra...uh...ticket, yeah, to see this concert in town, and he gave it to me. It happened to be on Friday," Dingodile lied.

"Cool! Who gave it to you?" Tiny asked.

Dingodile froze again, then decided to say the first name that came into mind.

"Crush Bandicoot gave it to me!" he blurted out.

* * *

"_CRUSH BANDICOOT!?_" Tiny screamed as soon as they went inside the school. "You can't be serious! Dingodile; the guy's a PSYCHO!"

"I guess that's one thing we have in common, then..." Dingodile muttered as he continued walking.

"He's my mortal enemy! How could you go with him!? When did you even start hanging out!?" Tiny yelled.

Dingodile turned to him. "Last night. 8:00," he said angrily, then he walked away.

Tiny's eyes widened, remembering that he forgot all about last night.

* * *

At lunchtime, Dingodile sat down at Crush's table. "Hey Crush," he said.

Crush looked up at him. "Did I say or do anything last night to make you think this was okay?" he asked.

"Listen, I was planning on telling Tiny exactly how I felt about our friendship, when whaddaya know? I made up some random excuse not to come to homecoming, and said I was going to a concert with you," Dingodile said.

"I don't recall that being the plan," Crush told him.

Suddenly, Nia sat down next to Dingodile. "Hey Dingodile," she said. "Did you finish the history homework last night?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Crush asked her.

"Sitting," she said.

"No one sits here but _me_," Crush told her.

Out of nowhere, N. Gin sat down, too. "Wow, we're sitting at Crush's table now? This feels dangerous!" he said.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA..." Crush began.

"Is this guy bothering you, Nia?" Joe said as he and Ripper Roo sat down.

"More like the other way around!" Crush yelled. "Is everyone here friendless or something!?"

N. Gin slowly raised his hand. Ripper Roo cracked up.

"...Besides you," Crush finished.

"Please, Crush...this gives me an excuse NOT to hang out with Tiny...all he does is put me down, really," Dingodile told him.

"So, you're just doing this to make him jealous; we're not actually _friends_ or anything, right?" Crush asked.

"Yeah..." Dingodile said.

Crush shrugged. "I'm in, I guess," he said, getting up and walking away.

"Hey, is Crush isn't here, is this still the "tough guy" table?" Joe asked everyone.


	6. Rage

After school, Tiny ran over to Dingodile. "Dingodile, listen...I'm SO sorry for forgetting about last night! You must think I'm a terrible friend..." he said.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Dingodile said as he shrugged.

"Really?" Tiny asked.

"It's fine; I couldn't make it anyway, I had other things I needed to do," Dingodile lied.

"Oh, well...do you want to hang out over at the mall? You know...to make up from last night?" Tiny asked.

"Sorry, I'm already hanging with Crush," Dingodile said as he walked away.

Tiny knew something was up. For the past couple of days, every time he tried to make plans to hang out with Dingodile, Dingodile would simply say he already made _other_ plans. Tiny also noticed that whenever he passed by Dingodile in the hallway, and Crush happened to be there, Dingodile would always be around him.

Finally, Tiny just assumed that this was just a phase, and that things would be back to normal soon. He started to ignore it, and hang out with Scarlett more.

* * *

That night, at Tiny's house, Scarlett was helping Tiny with his science homework. She had disassembled a ray gun, and put all the pieces in front of him. He had to figure what each part was, with a blindfold on.

"So...is this the trigger?" he asked.

"No, that's the fusion unit," Scarlett told him.

"Hmm..." Tiny took something else. "What's this?"

"That's my cell phone," Scarlett said. Suddenly, it started ringing.

"Wow, super strong _and_ psychic!" she said, taking it. She listened for a moment, and said, "What? ...Really!? Darn it...well, I'll have to call you back..." She hung up, and sighed.

"What's up?" Tiny asked her.

"There's a problem with the homecoming decorations. Coco forgot to order the fog machine, so I'm gonna have to build one myself! ...Do you think the homecoming committee can drop by?" Scarlett asked.

"I...don't know...Tani went out with some friends and won't be back until later tonight. I'm not really supposed to have anyone over..." Tiny told her.

"Oh, that's fine. I was just hoping we would...spend some more time together..." she said, giving him the "puppy dog" look.

Tiny stared at her, practically hypnotized.

"I guess I'll see you at school then?" Scarlett said, getting her stuff. "Goodnight, Tiny."

Tiny watched as she walked away, then stopped her. "Wait!" he said. "I guess they could come...I mean, if it's only a _few_ people..."

* * *

Tiny's house was soon crowded with people, a disco ball appeared out of nowhere, and rock music blasted out of the stereos.

"SCARLETT!" Tiny yelled, running through the crowd of people. He finally found her a few seconds later. "You said this was supposed to be the homecoming committee!"

"This _is_ the homecoming committee!" Scarlett told him.

"This is the entire hero class!" Tiny yelled.

"Okay, so a little more people showed up," Scarlett admitted. "But Tiny, you're _popular!_"

"Every single hero is here! How am I going to get this place cleaned up before Tani gets back!?" Tiny panicked.

"Here; come with me!" Scarlett said, taking his hand.

She took Tiny to the balcony, and shut the door behind her. "Okay, so what's on your mind?" Scarlett asked him.

Tiny looked down. "My friends..." he said.

"What about them? They're all here!" Scarlett said. Tiny was silent. "Oh...you mean the sidekicks," she said.

"You know what; I think I'll just call them, and ask them to come," Tiny said, walking away.

"Tiny...you are such a nice guy," Scarlett said, stopping him. "But honestly, do you think they'd have fun? I mean, with this crowd...don't you think they'd feel a little awkward?"

"I think they'd be fine," Tiny said.

"Trust me, Tiny," Scarlett said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "They'd be miserable."

* * *

Meanwhile, Dingodile had given up on lying to Tiny, and decided to just tell him the truth on how he felt about their friendship.

As he was walking over to Tiny's house, he heard some music in the distance. Confused, he looked at Tiny's house and saw all sorts of flashing lights in the windows. He rolled his eyes, then grumbled something to himself that sounded like, "He even threw a PARTY and didn't invite me..."

Dingodile walked into the house, looking for Tiny. All the heroes didn't seem happy to see him, though.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Dingodile heard some people mumble, but he ignored them and continued looking around.

Tiny and Scarlett walked back into the house, finally. Tiny didn't notice Dingodile, but Scarlett did. She growled to herself, and gave him a look. Turning back to Tiny, she said, "Hey Tiny, could you get a Pepsi?"

"Sure thing!" Tiny said, walking away.

Scarlett walked over to Dingodile.

"Who invited the sidekick!?" Nina asked her.

"Yeah, what's he doing here?" Pinstripe said.

"Leaving," Scarlett said.

"Where's Tiny?" Dingodile asked, ignoring the other comments.

"Honestly, avoiding you!" Scarlett told him. "Dingodile...Tiny _knows_ you don't think their friendship is working out!"

"He does?" Dingodile asked.

"_Everyone_ knows. Tiny is just too nice to tell you he doesn't care!" Scarlett said.

"Well, if you couldn't take a hint, anyway. He's going to homecoming with ME, not hanging with anyone else! He even threw a PARTY, and didn't invite YOU! You're just embarrassing him, _and_ yourself!"

Dingodile tried to take these insults in the nicest way possible, doing the best he could not to get angry. Even though he wanted to show these heroes not to mess with him, he knew better than to get out of control with his powers.

"Alright, I get it," he said calmly. "If you ever see Tiny again, can you tell him our friendship is over?"

Scarlett smiled, saying, "I'll send the message."

Suddenly, Tiny showed up. "Oh! Hey, Dingodile!" he said happily.

Dingodile glared at him angrily, turned around, and walked away.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Tiny asked, following him. Dingodile just ignored him and continued walking. "Dingodile!" Tiny yelled, putting his hand on his shoulder. He jumped back though, when he got burned by him.

Dingodile turned around and said, "Have fun with your new best friend, Tiny!" then walked out the door, slamming it shut. Shortly afterwards, the door caught on fire, and crashed to the ground.

Tiny was shocked, and just stared at the door. He never thought Dingodile would use his powers in public, but he ignored that. He slowly looked away, then walked over to Scarlett.

"Scarlett!" he said.

"Oh, thanks!" Scarlett said, taking the Pepsi from him.

"What did you say to Dingodile?" Tiny asked her.

"Nothing! I just told the truth," Scarlett told him. "You're a hero; he's a sidekick! He's holding you back."

"What!?" Tiny yelled. "Why would you do that? Dingodile's been my best friend since forever, really!"

"Well, you've got new friends now, so you have to figure out whether you want to hang with US, or with those losers!" Scarlett told him. "Come on."

She took Tiny's hand, but he took it back. "No, I'm not going anywhere with you! Not now; not at homecoming!" he said. "Looks like you'll have to find a new date, Scarlett!"

Scarlett just stared at him. "You're..._dumping_ me?" she asked. "Whoa whoa whoa...let's get things straight; you do NOT dump ME! Not the night before HOMECOMING!"

"Sorry Scarlett; I just did!" Tiny told her. He turned around, and faced everyone else. "Alright, that's it; EVERYONE, OUT!" he yelled. "PARTY'S OVER!"

"Don't stop on MY account..." a voice said.

The music instantly died down, and Tiny turned around. There, right in front of him, was Tani.

There was complete silence for a minute, until she finally said, "I decided to go out for about 2 hours or so, and you throw a PARTY!?"

Everyone was completely silent.

"Alright, on the count of 3, I want everyone OUT OF THIS HOUSE! GOT THAT!?" Tani screamed, in her werewolf form. Everyone instantly ran out of the house in terror before she even started counting.

Tani turned back to normal, then looked to Tiny. She shook her head disappointedly, then said, "Tiny, I don't think you're going to homecoming tomorrow night..."

Tiny shrugged and walked away. "I wasn't going anyway," he said.

"Whoa, hey! I said I don't _think_ you're going! We promised Scarlett we would be there," Tani told him. Tiny just stared at the ground.

"Did something happen, Tiny?" Tani asked him, noticing he was acting down.

"I don't want to talk about it..." Tiny told her.

"Well, we promised Scarlett we'd be there! When someone makes a promise, Tiny, that promise is kept!" she said.

"Okay; I promise that I'm not going," Tiny said, walking up the stairs to his bedroom.

He tried to get a hold of Dingodile on his cell phone. "Please, Dingodile, pick up! Pick up the phone...okay fine, _don't_ pick up the phone. It's Tiny, and if you hear this message, PLEASE meet me near the theater in the mall right now!" he said.

* * *

Tiny waited a few minutes at the mall, looking around for Dingodile, but he was not in sight. He sighed, then checked his phone for any messages or missed calls, but saw nothing. He sadly started walking away, when he noticed someone familiar behind the counter at a nearby concession stand.

"Crush?" Tiny said, surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Crush asked him.

Tiny sighed, and said, "I'm just looking for Dingodile...do you know where he is?"

"How should I know?" Crush asked.

"I don't know; you guys have been hanging out a lot..." Tiny said as he shrugged.

Crush stared at him, then remembered what Dingodile had told him. "Oh...yeah," he said.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me ruining any of your plans," Tiny told him.

"Why is that?" Crush asked.

"I'm not going to homecoming," Tiny told him.

"Well, that sucks," Crush said, walking out from behind the counter. "Dingodile and I were never really going to a concert; he only made that up so you'd be jealous that he has a new best friend."

Tiny looked at him, confused. "What? Why?" he asked.

Crush rolled his eyes. "Dude...you must be REALLY stupid! Do you know how he feels? You've been so _popular_, you practically FORGOT about the poor guy!" he told him.

"Well, this is just great...after what happened tonight, he _hates_ me now..." Tiny said. "I wouldn't be surprised if any of the other guys never talked to me again, either."

"Wow...you must've been a real jerk," Crush told him.

Tiny gave him a look. "Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Anytime. I'll see you around," Crush said, walking away.


	7. Homecoming?

Later, the next night, it was homecoming, of course. There was music, refreshments, dancing...you name it.

All of the sidekicks were hanging out near the table, not being very enthusiastic. All except for Joe, who was dancing like a complete idiot.

"Hey, you wanna dance?" he asked Nia.

"No," she said.

"Me neither," Joe said as he stopped dancing.

They saw Dingodile walk up to the table, suddenly. Everyone went silent, because they could see that he was NOT in a good mood.

"Hey, Dingodile! Want me to get you some punch?" N. Gin asked quickly. He grabbed a cup, about to put punch in it, when a sudden "gust" of wind knocked the punch bowl over. N. Gin stared at it, then turned around and glared angrily at Coco, who was laughing her head off.

"Why do the heroes have to be such JERKS!?" N. Gin yelled.

"Wow, thanks a lot," a voice said sarcastically. Everyone turned around, and saw Crush.

Dingodile was surprised. "I thought you didn't care about homecoming!" he told him.

Crush shrugged. "I had nothing else better to do tonight," he said.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Tiny's house, Tani was getting ready to leave. "Are you sure you still don't want to come?" she asked Tiny.

"Tani...have you ever felt like you messed up something so bad, you'd never be able to fix it?" Tiny asked her.

"People make mistakes all the time, Tiny. The key is to learn from those mistakes," she told him.

"I hope my friends know that..." Tiny said.

"If they're true friends, Tiny, they'd understand," Tani said, and she walked away.

Tiny sat there, and thought about what she said. "She's right," he told himself. "I guess I'll have to do the one thing I didn't think about doing before: apologize." He ran to his room, grabbed a card which had the bus driver's number, and said, "I've got to get to Sky High!"

* * *

Back at homecoming, Scarlett stepped up to the stage to get everyone's attention. "Hello everyone, and thank you all for coming to homecoming tonight!" she said as everyone applauded for no apparent reason. "To mark this occasion, we planned a special award to the most powerful superbeing to ever walk the halls of Sky High..."

A slight pause ended her sentence, followed by a strike of lightning.

"_...ME!" _she finished.

Electricity flashed all around her, forming into some type of armor, and everything electronic went all out of whack. The electricity around her formed the words ROYAL PAIN.

"Pinstripe! The laser gun, please," Scarlett said. Pinstripe walked up to her and handed her some sort of laser gun.

Tani had just walked into in the room, and saw all the commotion. After seeing Scarlett was the cause of all of this, she just stared at her in shock.

"Royal Pain...is a _girl?_" she said, confused.

"YES, I'm a GIRL you IDIOT!" Scarlett yelled at her from inside some sort of helmet, which made her voice sound robotic.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Pinstripe asked her.

"We battled years ago..." Tani said, rolling her eyes.

"How I ever lost to an idiot like you, I'll never know!" Scarlett yelled, annoyed. She held up the laser gun and pointed it at her, saying, "Now, prepared to be pacified!"

Tani looked unconvinced. "Do you honestly think you can kill me with that toy gun of yours?" she said.

"My dear Tani...who said anything about KILLING you?" Scarlett asked her. She pointed the gun straight at her, and pulled the trigger.

A laser shot at Tani, and she got electrocuted for a moment, but then she started shrinking.

Everyone stared at her in horror, and the sidekicks ran over. They all looked closely, and saw that Tani had been turned into—

"A baby! Aww..." N. Gin said.

Everyone stared at him like he was insane.

"I mean, uh...A BABY! OH NO!" he screamed.

Pretty soon, Scarlett started shooting the laser gun all around at random people, turning them into babies. Everyone started panicking, trying to escape, but the other heroes (being Scarlett's minions), locked all the doors from the outside, waving at them smugly.

N. Tropy ran over to the sidekicks, saying, "Try to find an exit, and get as many people out as you can!" All the sidekicks ran off. "I'll try to stop he—" Tropy began, but then a laser hit him.

The sidekicks frantically ran around, until Crush found a vent. He yanked the opening of it out, and everyone crawled inside.

"Where are we going to end up, anyway?" Joe asked.

"Hey Dingodile, how about some light?" Crush asked Dingodile.

Dingodile held out a fireball for light, and everyone eventually made it to the end of the vent.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tiny was already at the school, and was running through the halls looking for his friends. He suddenly saw some light coming out of a vent, so he ripped off the opening for everyone to get through.

Dingodile wasn't too happy to see him, but got out anyway, along with everyone else.

"Guys, you're never going to believe this! Scarlett—" Tiny began.

"Is a super villain named Royal Pain," Crush finished.

"Yeah, and—" Tiny began again.

"And she has a gun that turns people into babies," Nia said.

"Right—" Tiny started.

"And she apparently fought your sister in the past," N. Gin said.

Tiny froze. "Okay, that I _didn't_ know..." he said.

"I think this all is a little more than "The Great Tiny Tiger" can handle..." Dingodile said sarcastically.

"He's right; this is gonna take all of us!" Tiny said, ignoring the sarcasm behind that.

"All of us? Don't you mean you and Crush? The rest of us are only sidekicks!" Nia said.

"Just because you have powers, it doesn't automatically make you a hero! Sometimes it just makes you a jerk—makes _me_ a jerk...I guess...what I'm trying to say is—" Tiny began.

"We get it; you've been a jerk..." Dingodile said.

"Dingodile...you _know_ that what Scarlett told you last night wasn't true, don't you?" Tiny asked him.

"Well, I believed it at first, but I guess I just overreacted, and I'm sorry," Dingodile told him.

"No, you had every right to be mad at me...it was all my fault. I ignored you, and I apologize," Tiny said.

"Apology accepted," Dingodile said.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" a voice mocked.

The sidekicks turned around, and saw all the heroes (besides Deann, anyway, and by that time, Dingodile was pretty concerned about what happened to her).

"You guys are part of this too? Why am I not surprised..." Tiny said.

"Take care of Scarlett, Tiny. We'll handle these clowns," Crush said.

Tiny nodded his head, and ran right through the wall.

Nia and Ripper Roo looked at each other, then scrambled back into the vent, not wanting to be apart of the battle.

Crush shot a locker, bringing it to life, and sent it towards the heroes, but Crash ran right past it, causing it fly back and hit Crush. Angrily, Crush got up, and ran after him.

Pinstripe looked at Joe and grinned deviously. Joe screamed like a complete coward and ran off, too, with Pinstripe chasing him. Crunch touched the wall, and his whole body became brick. Dingodile backed away, then ran off as fast as he could. Crunch chased after him.


End file.
